Fit and Comfort

Seen above is the right channel of the Noble Audio Viking Ragnar placed into an artificial ear mold with the included size M silicone ear tip installed. I have average-sized ears, and the ear mold above represents my own experiences well enough as a proxy. Size M silicone tips are my go-to for testing, since foam tips are not included by some brands but note that Noble Audio has provided two separate types of foam tips here so you may want to try them out too. The Viking Ragnar is larger-than-average in physical size owing to the tribrid driver design, and it's bulbous to an extent that does help keep the inside more manageable. The ergonomic shape helps fill out the concha but it will likely stick out of the ears for you as it did for me—those with smaller ears might struggle with comfort. On the other hand, the manageable nozzles fit in nicely in my ear canals and this helped provide a secure and isolating fit to where I had no problem keeping in and using the Viking Ragnar for hours on end. The shells weigh ~8.5 g each owing to the all-metal construction and that ends up feeling solidly in the ears as opposed to being physically fatiguing if heavier or giving you a sense of being loose if lighter. The pre-formed ear hooks combined with the relatively supple cable also makes for an additional point of contact and support for the IEMs, although once again you can see where having flush-mount connectors or even an angled housing would have been better.

Audio Performance

Audio Hardware

The Viking Ragnar employs a tribrid driver configuration in that there are three different driver types here for a total of 10 drivers per side! There are two 10 mm dynamic drivers—of which no other information is shared, be it diaphragm composition or magnet/surround type—dedicated to the sub-bass and bass and is quite promising compared to other tribrid configurations we've seen in allowing not one but two whole dynamic drivers for the primary bass presence. These then give away to two Knowles balanced armature drivers for the mid-range and another two Knowles BA drivers for the upper mids. Then come the Sonion electrostatic tweeters for the upper mids leading to the higher frequencies—it is likely that the BA drivers still cater to the lower treble whereas the EST drivers handle the super-high frequencies but there is enough ambiguity here to where it's hard to say for sure with the information provided on the official product page compared to that on a retailer's product page. Still, what is clear is the drivers work in a 2+2+2+4 4-way crossover that come together to make for a set of IEMs which is on the easier side of average when it comes to source requirements. Indeed, with a rated impedance of 17 Ω and a sensitivity of 112 dB (presumably this is dB/mW) @1 kHz, the Noble Viking Ragnar can be easily driven off a basic dongle, let alone necessitating a higher end portable DAC/amp. I mentioned before how I paired it with a series of portable and desktop-class equipment and the smallest of the lot in the form of the Questyle M15 still sounded the best to me!

Frequency Measurement and Listening

I will mention that I have a general preference for a warm-neutral signature with a slightly elevated bass, smooth treble range, detailed mids, and good tonal separation. I also generally prefer instrumental music over vocals, with favored genres including jazz and classical music.


Our reproducible testing methodology begins with a calibrated IEC711 audio coupler/artificial ear that IEMs can feed into enough for decent isolation. The audio coupler feeds into a USB sound card, which in turn goes to a laptop that has ARTA and REW running and the earphones connected to the laptop through the Questyle M15 portable DAC/amp. I begin with an impulse measurement to test for signal fidelity, calibrate the sound card and channel output, account for floor noise, and finally test the frequency response of each channel separately. Octave smoothing is at the 1/12th setting, which nets a good balance of detail and noise not being identified as useful data. Also, the default tuning was used for testing, and no app-based settings were chosen unless specifically mentioned. Each sample of interest is tested thrice with separate mounts to account for any fit issues, and an average is taken of the three individual measurements for statistical accuracy. For IEMs, I am also using the appropriate ear mold fitted to the audio coupler for a separate test to compare how the IEMs fare when installed in a pinna geometry instead of just the audio coupler. The raw data is then exported from REW and plotted in OriginPro for easier comparison.


The IEC711 is such that you can't really compare these results with most other test setups, especially those using a head and torso simulator (HATS). The raw dB numbers are also quite contingent on the set volume, gain levels, and sensitivity of the system. What is more useful information is how the left and right channels work across the rated frequency response in the Viking Ragnar. The left channel was separately tested from the right one, and colored differently for contrast. I did my best to ensure an identical fit for both inside the IEC711 orifice, so note how the two channels are practically identical across the entire useful 20 Hz to 20 kHz range! The measured discrepancy at ~2-4 kHz feels to be a measurement artifact borne out of matching the coupler resonance to 8 kHz, and in practice a proper deep fit had the resonance hit closer to 9 kHz on my coupler, at which point the two channels sounded identical in my ears anyway. Given the price range the Viking Ragnar operates in, I expect to see driver matching with higher quality control and, at least when it comes to this review loaner which happens to be a randomly chosen retail unit, things are satisfactory enough. Measurements taken after 75 hours of testing, which included these playing a mix of various songs as well as white or pink noise and sine sweeps, showed no difference. There was no perceived burn-in effect thus, and none was measurable, either. The response with the anthropomorphic pinna in place matched the ideal scenario in the coupler extremely well too and this is an indicator of how good the seal was when installed in the artificial ear.


Here is the average frequency response for both channels of the Noble Viking Ragnar plotted against my personal target taken from VSG.squig.link, which also gives you an idea of my personal preferences to better correlate any possible biases. The tuning of a set of headphones or earphones does not have to match my target as long as it is tuned with some direction, makes sense, and is executed well. After all, no one set will appeal to everyone, and having different options is what makes this hobby so interesting and hard to quantify. Indeed, with a slew of Harman-like and warm-neutral tonalities recently thanks to audio brands aiming to appease reviewers and their followings, I am already glad that the Viking Ragnar deviates from the norm. That said, I am not sure how best to easily describe the tonality here except to say bassy and bright simultaneously.

When I first listened to these before any measurements were taken, two things came to mind right away—boy this has oodles of bass, and sheesh this is bright and fatiguing after a while. Both of these are explained by the frequency response measurements. There's a ~8-9 dB SPL hike in the sub-bass going down from 250 Hz all the way into the sub-bass, but note the bass-tuck here which makes the sub-bass all the more pronounced. Indeed, the Viking Ragnar is one of the hardest hitting sets that I've tried to date and worked well for when I go on bandcamp to find new artists/indie creations which seemingly all are in the electronic trance genre these days. At the same time, that bass tuck makes it hard to get bass guitars to sound as well as they can be rendered on the Viking Ragnar, and some kick drums also lose impact. I had a small bass shelf applied via EQ from ~280 Hz and this solved my issues to where the Viking Ragnar now was possibly the best set of IEMs for bass I've tried in a long, long time with both leading and trailing ends of tones getting their just dues.

The mids again benefit from the bass shelf filter although here the fit achieved as well as your preference for vocals over instruments will make or break the Viking Ragnar for you. Indeed, while this is a highly resolving set, I can't help but point out that it works with instruments far better out of the box. Male vocals are plenty passable but female vocals go from sounding potentially nasally to muted and hollow depending on the singer. Asian pop music in particular isn't as ideal here as other genres that take advantage of the excellent instrument separation combined with precise imaging and an appropriate soundstage provided here—not cramped but also not artificially wide without substance. For example, I quickly went on to try the Viking Ragnar with acoustic jazz and piano music where the exceptional layering from the set comes in handy to get into the groove with faster tones coming one after the other and yet all getting their fair dues. EQ will be helpful here too, and now you might think I am blaming Noble Audio for its tonality after all, but these are just some deviations relative to my preferences that perhaps you may not care for.

That enhanced presence in the lower and mid-treble is a defining feature of the Viking Ragnar which I simply can't get over as it makes the muted upper mids feel more so by comparison while also making some string instruments ring in the ears. It can also make sibilance worse in tracks which are not well-recorded, and the upper treble comes off dark by comparison for a set that has four EST's which I would have expected to provide air instead. It might well be there, but is just harder to appreciate behind that treble peak before. The good thing is, and once again I have to go back to EQ here, the Viking Ragnar is the most technically proficient set of IEMs I've had the pleasure of listening to. Indeed, Noble Audio allowed me to have this on hand for a long enough time to where I could also separate the driver's capabilities from the tonality itself. The Viking Ragnar ended up becoming a most excellent set once I had it set up to my specific interests with Equalizer APO to where I can only think of the even more expensive Subtonic Storm that bested it technically.

Comparisons

I have not spent enough time with IEMs in the price range the Noble Viking Ragnar operates in to give you a detailed comparison report. Most of these flagship IEM experiences have been at trade shows where it's best to take anything you try out with a grain of salt. As such, the two I can talk about here are those I have done a full review of in the form of the 64 Audio U18t and the new Campfire Audio flagship Trifecta that I had on hand for a day to privately listen to but not long enough to do a full review. The U18t uses 18 balanced armature drivers combined with some interesting tech modules to give you four different audio signatures, of which I'd say maybe two are worth checking out—if that. The Viking Ragnar keeps it simpler by giving you one experience that the company deems is the way to go for multiple music genres and I do respect that more given this price range is where people should ideally be already aware of their music preferences and go with IEMs that favor those very well rather than trying to go with something that tries to do it all in a less impactful manner. Both sets are extremely resolving but the U18t comes off more analytical and less fun compared to the Viking Ragnar in the bass—especially after EQ. Indeed, I'd say that the ceiling for the Viking Ragnar is higher if you are open to EQ elsewhere too, and the same goes when we bring the weird 3-DD Trifecta in the picture. The U18t was the easiest to fit in my ears and wear for longer periods of time followed by the Viking Ragnar, and I still can't get over the weird triangular form factor of the Trifecta with its non-crossover driver configuration that is a pain to listen to in more ways than one. I'd also give Noble Audio the edge when it comes to build quality and accessories with the Viking Ragnar easily having the best cable of the lot. Also, I will say that all three of these brands are US-based but Noble Audio were the most transparent and detailed when it came to answering my questions to where I can't help but think that anyone looking for a more premium boutique, hands-on customer experience—another factor that is important when you are dealing with the flagship IEM market—will be more likely to find it here. Just keep in mind that the Viking Ragnar has a colored tuning in a few different places, and out of the box I'd personally go with the U18t whereas I'd certainly pick the Viking Ragnar if you are amenable to EQ.